Tiny Epic Galaxies Blast Off Review!

Whose ready for a new board game review? This time around I am sharing a great company who is based out of Arizona! The company is called Gamelyn Games & they are the creators of the Tiny Epic Games series. I was recently sent three of their games along with an expansion to play & review with my family. I will be featuring each game in it's own post starting off with this first post featuring a game called "Tiny Epic Galaxies BLAST OFF". This game is one of the newest games in their collection & can be purchased for $20, it is designed for 2-4 players ages 8+. The series is called the Tiny Epic Game series due to the size of the game boxes & game pieces, the boxes are the game measure 7" long with a width just under 5" which makes these games easy to store & to travel with. I could easily pack this into my suitcase, backpack or purse to play while on vacation or during travel. 

Blast Off is a game where you will explore the universe trying to conquer as many planets as you can. Each planet is worth a set amount of points which will be added to your grand total, the first player to reach twenty-one points wins. Your first round might be a little chaotic as you learn the rules & get used to the game and it will get easier the next time you play, the rules are fairly easy to learn & you will be able to learn them quickly. If you are struggling to understand the rule book there is a QR code you can scan which will play a video of what to do. I like that they include the instructional video as some people are better visual learners. I also like that the inside of the lid also doubles as a dice tray.  All of the game pieces & player cards are very detailed and bright in color, it is fun seeing all of the different planets the cards feature.

So how do you play? Everyone starts off on the same level which you are see in the card below, so you'll automatically be able to roll four dice, have two ships & start at zero points, plus you'll start with two energy & one  culture. You will also notice that each player card has a red column which signifies how much energy or culture you will need to "upgrade" your level which unlocks more dice, ships & points to use to win. The game does rely on the luck of the dice, but there are also ways to create your own luck. You can spend an energy to re-roll all of your un-used dice (I will explain this below) or your can use either an energy or culture to use the converter once changing one dice to any face you'd like. 

After rolling the dice, you will complete the tasks in any order you choose by "activating" the dice which means placing them into the square slots on the activation bay card. The squares that are yellow will allow another player to use a culture to "follow" or copy your move and complete the same action themselves. If you pay attention to the other players during game play it can come in handy for how you decide to complete your tasks. Once a dice is on the activation bay it is a "used" dice and any other dice left in the dice tray are "un-used" which you can re-roll given you have the energy to pay to do so.

 A dice with a rocket ship will all you to place your ship on any open planet which gives you two spots to land, one is a track you'll need to climb to claim the planet & the other option is to land on the planet itself giving you the resources list at the bottom of the card. You can only have 1 ship per track & 1 ship per surface on the planet cards. You climb the track by playing dice that match the same symbol on the track & once you reach the top that planet is yours & can be placed under your player mat like shown above. You will still have access to use the resources on the planet card if you use the Utilize galaxy dice, it will give you access to upgrade your player track or use one planet recourse. The handy rulebook that comes with the game will tell you what each symbol on the planets mean so you can properly claim your resource. For example if you look at the top right planet card on the photo above that has the "5" points, this card means that all other players will gain one culture token & you will gain two. Some cards benefit only you and others benefit everyone, play these cards wisely or you could end up giving someone else the win. 

We've played this several times together as a family now & we've also played with just three people, having the hang of how the game goes now the rounds go by fairly quickly. We enjoy pulling this out when we are looking for a quick simple game to enjoy in between other plans we have going on, a game can last anywhere from twenty to forty minutes depending on how everyone plays & how the dice is rolled. We can't wait to check out the other two games in the Tiny Epic series we were sent to check out. If you love board games or are looking for a good place to start this is a fun game to check out, I highly suggest heading over to their website and seeing what their game catalogue has to offer you.

Disclaimer- Gamelyn Games provided the products above for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.